400 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



work of this expedition falls naturally into two sections, that carried out in 1898-99, 

 and that done in 1900. 



On May 20, 1899, the Swedish Professor A. G. Nathorst sailed from Stockholm 

 on the Antarctic for the northern part of the eastern coast of Greenland to find if 

 possible some trace of Andree who had ascended in a balloon from Danish Island, 

 Spitsbergen, on July 11, 1897, and who had been last heard from two days later when 

 a message arrived by carrier pigeon. 



In 1900 a Swedish expedition under the direction of Gustave Kolthoff visited 

 northeastern Greenland on the whaler Frithiqf between July 31 and August 25, going 

 as far north as lat. 7458' N. 



During the seasons of 1899 to 1901 the Russians sent to Spitzbergen several ships 

 which made important zoological collections, although then- chief purpose was the 

 determination of an arc of meridian, in cooperation with Swedish expeditions, and the 

 taking of gravity observations. These ships were, in 1899, the Bakan, with Dr. A. A. 

 Birula as naturalist, and the famous ice-breaker Yermak, with Dr. A. A. Tschernyschew 

 as naturalist; hi 1900 the Bakan again, with Dr. A. N. Wolkowitsch as naturalist; and 

 in 1901 the Bakan and the Ljedokol II. Most of the collections were made in the 

 southern part of western Spitzbergen and in the Stor Fjord. 



During the summer of 1901 the Yermak dredged to west central and northwestern 

 Nova Zembla, and thence northward to Franz Josef Land. 



In 1901-02 Dr. Chr. Kruuse undertook explorations in eastern Greenland, the 

 objects of which were partly botanical, partly ecological; but his instructions enjoined 

 him in addition to investigate meteorological, biological and geological phenomena 

 insofar as his principal duties permitted. The region in which he worked was that 

 about the Tasiusak Fjord, near Angmagsalik (lat. 6537' N.). 



The Russian Arctic Expedition of 1900-03 worked along the Siberian coast, 

 gathering the first information regarding the distribution of this species in the region 

 from Taimyr Land eastward to the New Siberian Islands. This expedition sailed 

 in the Zarya (formerly the Norwegian whaler Harold Hdrfager) and was under the 

 leadership of Baron E. W. von Toll, well known for his previous work in the New 

 Siberian Islands, who had with him as oceanographer Lieut, (later Adm.) Alexander 

 V. Koltschak and as zoologist Dr. A. A. Birula. 



The only biological station within the range of this species is that at Alexandrovsk 

 on the Kola Fjord, established in 1899 as the continuation of the older station 

 which was founded in 1881 by Prof. N. P. Wagner on the island of Solovetski near 

 Archangel and from 1904 onwards maintained throughout the year. Dr. S. Averinzew 

 was the first resident director. This species is common and very generally distributed 

 here, and there are many records resulting from the work of the Orca in 1904-05 and 

 of the Alexander Kovalevsky in 1908-09; but so far only its local distribution has been 

 studied. 



In 1905 the Duke of Orleans chartered the Belgica and, with Capt. A. de Gerlache 

 in command, visited Spitzbergen, sailing thence across to Greenland, which he first 

 sighted at Cape Bismark. 



On July 8, 1907, the Duke of Orleans again sailed on the Belgica, this time for Nova 

 Zembla. Passing through the Matyushin Shar, the Belgica was caught in the ice, 

 with which she drifted southward, finally reaching the Kara Strait on August 16. Sail- 

 ing northward to the Matyushin Shar, she completed the circumnavigation of the 



